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Assessment Process

The “assessment” process describes in the EUROCORES Scheme the review procedure of the applications for project proposals including the external Peer Review and the work of the Review Panel.

Associated Partner

A scientist based in a country, or associated with an organisation not participating in the EUROCORES Programme, and who is leading an Associated Project within a Collaborative Research Project is called an Associated Partner. Associated Partners must be “self-financing” and do not count towards the trans-national eligibility criteria defined in the EUROCORES programme Call for proposals (normally 3 Individual Projects (IPs) from 3 different countries for one Collaborative Research Project (CRP)). 

An Associated Partner can not act as a Project Leader.

Associated Project (AP)

An Associated Project (AP) is a project within the Collaborative Research Project, which is led by an Associated Partner (see above). The AP is part of Collaborative Research Project and will be assessed as such. An AP should bring added value to the proposed Collaborative Research Project.

The AP must be “self-financing”, from 2009 onwards also for networking activities.

Collaborative Research Project (CRP)

The Collaborative Research Projects (CRPs) are the international research activities which make up a EUROCORES programme.

A CRP consists of a number of Individual Projects (IPs), each led by normally one Principal Investigator (PI).

Associated Projects may also be part of a CRP. Each CRP is represented by a Project Leader (PL). Each CRP should demonstrate a minimum level of trans-national collaboration as defined in the relevant Call for proposals of the EUROCORES programme. Associated Partners do not count towards the trans-national eligibility criteria.

Co-operating Partner

A scientist who is co-operating with a Principal Investigator but is not named in the CRP proposal and for her/his own purposes wants to be linked to the EUROCORES programme can become a Co-operating Partner (normally these links are established after the CRPs are funded). She/he is not an official part of the CRP nor of the EUROCORES Programme but, can listed as a Co-operating Partner (e.g. on the ESF web-site of a EUROCORES programme). She/he is not automatically part of the EUROCORES Programme networking activities, but may participate on an ad-hoc self-financed basis. 

Co-Principal Investigator

When two scientists lead an Individual Project (IP), one is the Principal Investigator and the other becomes a Co-Principal Investigator (Co-PI). They can be based in different institutions but must apply together for funding (one budget) from the same National Funding Organisation. There can be only one Co-PI.

A Co-PI can apply for networking activities in a EUROCORES Programme.  

Declaration of Interest

Each person acting for the ESF as a Review Panel member or a referee will be asked to sign a declaration of interest and confidentiality. This declaration should cover avoidance of conflicts of interest in the assessment of proposals, mid-term and final reports and ensure that the information provided is treated confidentially.

Eligibility Criteria

The eligibility criteria are defined in each Call for proposals. Generally the following criteria can be observed:

• Each Collaborative Research Project proposal has to involve a Minimum of 3 different Principal Investigators (PIs) based in 3 different countries participating in the EUROCORES Call for proposals.
  
• A Maximum of 50 % of all Principal Investigators in a Collaborative Research Project can come from one country.
  
• In a Collaborative Research Project, the number of Associated Projects has to be smaller than the number of Individual Projects (Number of APs < Number of IPs).

Additional criteria (such as maximum number of IPs in a CRP) might be defined in each Call for proposals.

ESF Member Organisations

A list of the European Science Foundation Member Organisations can be found on the ESF Website

EUROCORES Funding Organisations (EFOs)

Funding organisations that are participating in a EUROCORES Programme are called EUROCORES Funding Organisations (EFOs). In addition to the ESF Member Organisations, these can be other national funding organisations outside the ESF membership, e.g. ministries, ministerial agencies, private funding bodies, funding organisations at regional level etc.

EUROCORES Networking

Once the CRPs of a EUROCORES programme have been funded, a EUROCORES programme is expected to implement networking activities across the funded CRPs through science meetings such as workshops, conferences etc.

The costs for these networking activities will be covered through networking funds provided by the ESF.

EUROCORES networking funds only cover activities involving more than one CRP. Networking within a CRP has to be covered out of the national budget. 

EUROCORES Programme

EUROCORES programme stands for EUROpean COllaborative RESearch programme. EUROCORES programmes operate in specific scientific research areas. The Acronym is to be used as follows:

• One EUROCORES Programme EuroDYNA

A EUROCORES programme is “launched” as soon as the Call for Proposals of a specific EUROCORES programme has been published. The EUROCORES programmes involve an international Peer Review process and the subsequent networking of the funded Collaborative Research Projects.

EUROCORES Programme Coordinator

The Programme Coordinator is responsible for networking of the Collaborative Research Projects within a EUROCORES programme and scientific coordination. She/he has a scientific background in the appropriate field of science (normally with a PhD) and is an ESF staff member who reports to the Management Committee (MC) and ESF.

EUROCORES Scheme

The EUROCORES Scheme is the overall framework for the development and running of EUROCORES programmes.

The EUROCORES Scheme sets standards and provides harmonised procedures for all EUROCORES programmes.

EUROCORES Support Contract

The contract no. ERAS-CT-2003-980409 between the ESF and the European Commission for the support of the EUROCORES programmes within the sixth framework programme runs until the end of 2008. The funds of the EUROCORES Support Contract support the development, the International Peer Review and the networking of EUROCORES programmes.

EUROCORES Theme

A EUROCORES Theme is an idea for a new EUROCORES Programme. Guidelines for the submission of EUROCORES theme proposals are available on the EUROCORES website at www.esf.org/eurocores and proposals for EUROCORES themes are invited once a year (with a deadline of, normally, 1^st June).

Evaluation Process

The “evaluation” process in the EUROCORES Scheme describes the progress of evaluating the achievements of a running EUROCORES CRP or programme with respect to the set objectives or milestones of the CRP and Programme. 

Individual Project

A research activity/project within a Collaborative Research Project which is led by a Principal Investigator (PI) and supported by a national EUROCORES Funding Organisation (EFO) is an Individual Project. The PI applies for national funding in the context of a CRP’s research objectives.

A minimum number of 3 Individual Projects make up a Collaborative Research Project. The IP budget request should include funds for networking within the Collaborative Research Project.

Management Commitee

Mandate of the Management Committee:

• Has overall responsibility for the EUROCORES Programme within the guidelines of the EUROCORES Scheme
• Can request expert advice from the EUROCORES Scientific Committee, Review Panel or any other ad-hoc advisory group
• Each MC member is responsible for liaison with their funding organisation, including supervision of funding process for EUROCORES projects within their organisation.
• Members may attend all meetings of the EUROCORES programme (Review Panel meetings, Scientific Committee meeting, science meetings) as observers

Members of the Management Committee are:

• (Senior) science administrators from EUROCORES funding organisations (participating national funding organisations)
• An ESF representative (normally the EUROCORES Programme Coordinator)

The Chair is suggested by the ESF from amongst the membership of the Committee. The relevant ESF Head of Unit and/or EUROCORES Scheme Coordinator may also attend meetings of the Management Committee. The ESF provides the secretary to the Management Committee.

The Management Committee is established as soon as the Call for proposals of a EUROCORES Programme has been published.

Principal Investigator (PI)

A scientist who leads an Individual Project (IP) is a Principal Investigator (PI). He/she applies via the EUROCORES CRP for funding from a national funding organisation which is participating in a EUROCORES Programme (EUROCORES Funding Organisation -EFO). He/she must be based in a country or associated with an organisation participating in the EUROCORES programme and eligible to apply to that organisation. There can be maximum 2 PIs per IP (One PI and one Co-PI).

Project Leader (PL)

The Project Leader (PL) of a CRP is the main representative of the CRP. She/he is a Principal Investigator of an Individual Project in the CRP she/he represents.

She/he is normally the representative of the CRP to the ESF and in the Scientific Committee of the EUROCORES Programme. She/he is responsible for communication with the other Principal Investigators of her/his CRP. An Associated Partner can not act as a PL.

Project Member (PM)

A Project Member is a researcher (PhD student, post-doc researcher, senior scientist, technician etc.) who is funded by an Individual or Associated Project or he/she is a “faculty / research staff member” working for an Individual Project. Project Members of IPs are eligible for support from the EUROCORES networking funds. Special care should be taken that “junior” Project Members are included in the networking activities of a EUROCORES Programme.

PMs of Associated Projects must be self-financing for the networking activities. 

Rapporteur

A rapporteur is a Review Panel member assigned to a particular project. Normally 2 rapporteurs are assigned to each proposal. The rapporteurs are asked to read the proposals and the appropriate background material in detail and to report on the proposals and the background material to the whole Review Panel.

Referee

A referee is an internationally recognised expert in one of the scientific fields relevant to a given EUROCORES programme who is asked to give a written assessment of a CRP proposal.

Referees are asked to sign a declaration of interest before they referee a proposal.

A list of all referees having been active in a EUROCORES programme is published, unassigned to projects, once the International Peer Review has been completed.  

Review Panel (RP)

The Review Panel of a EUROCORES programme is established when the Call for Proposals has been published. It is convened on request of the ESF during the Peer Review process and possibly afterwards.

Mandate of the Review Panel:

At the outline proposals stage, the Review Panel:

• Selects outline proposals to be invited to submit full proposals, according to the criteria published in the Call for Proposals (sifting)
• May give recommendations concerning further development of the proposals
• Provides written comments (consensus report) to explain its decisions to the applicants

 At the full proposals stage, the Review Panel:

• May give advice on the selection of referees for the assessment of full proposals (principally from a pool of referees provided by the EUROCORES Funding Organisations and the ESF) and may suggest additional referees, if necessary
• Ranks and recommends proposals on the basis of assessments by external referees and, if relevant, applicant’ responses
• Provides written comments to explain its decisions to the EUROCORES Funding Organisations and to the applicants

 During the running EUROCORES programme, the Review Panel:

• Is part of the evaluation process of the overall EUROCORES programme on the basis of achievements of CRPs through Midterm and Final Evaluations (additional independent external evaluation may be sought)
• Advises the Management Committee on request.

Members of the Review Panel are:

• International experts recommended by EUROCORES Funding Organisations and appointed by ESF Office and approved by the ESF Science Advisory Board.

The Chair is appointed by the ESF from amongst the RP members. An ESF representative attends RP meetings (normally the EUROCORES Programme Coordinator) who is not a member. The relevant ESF Head of Unit and/or EUROCORES Scheme Coordinator may also attend. The MC members may attend as observers. The membership in the Review Panel is personal and public. The ESF provides the secretary to the Review Panel.

Scientific Commitee (SC)

The Scientific Committee of a EUROCORES programme is established once the funding of the CRPs has started. The first meeting of the Scientific Committee meeting marks the start of the Networking Phase of the EUROCORES Programme.

Members of the Scientific Committee are:

• Project Leaders (or another representative from each CRP)
• ESF representative (normally EUROCORES Programme Coordinator)
• One scientific member appointed by the ESF (optional)

The relevant ESF Head of Unit may also attend the Scientific Committee meetings. The Chair is nominated by the ESF from amongst the committee membership.

The ESF provides the secretariat to the Scientific Committee (normally through the EUROCORES Programme Coordinator).

The Scientific Committee:

• Is responsible for proposing and agreeing on the networking policy of the EUROCORES Programme (taking into account networking requests from Principal Investigators)
• Provides scientific guidance and coordination
• Reports to the Management Committee (through the EUROCORES Programme Coordinator)
• Meets once per year (normally)

Members represent the Principal Investigators, Associated Partners and Project Members of a CRP and are responsible for the communication flow from the Scientific Committee to Principal Investigators, Associated Partners and Project Members.